Here in The Good Land I made my place beside the still waters. I became a tiller of the soil, a keeper of the flocks, and a hater of pigs.

Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.

Friday, January 29, 2016

Pancetta is done!

It always seems like making pancetta should be more complicated then it is - but just like most food processing - it's just not really that difficult. There are several steps with a bunch of waiting around in between.

Wrapped in cheesecloth like a little present.

What is pancetta? It's a cured but not smoked bacon. You find it mostly in Italian cooking. I just love it. It's like bacon's spicier, more exciting, international sister.

Unwrapped. See also that the weight decreased. This is from drying out just like it should.

The only thing I do differently is that I don't roll it up. That is the only part of the process that kind of freaks me out. Also, I do such a bad job of skinning the bellies there would be pockets of air in them if they were rolled. So hanging wrapped in cheesecloth is just fine.

But raw meat hanging in the basement... just hanging there? Yep. Can you believe it?

If I had somewhere that stayed reasonable cool all year I'd love to do a prosciutto which is an air dried ham... but we have a mostly finished basement so that would never work. During the winter the unfinished side of our basement stays cool enough to hang the cured meat.

2 comments:

Although I have made bacon, I have not as yet tried hams or pancetta. I am sure that I shall ever be able to make them, because although we do have a drafty barn in which to hang them, but it would freak my husband out to think that a portion of his meat harvest might possibly be visited by rats and flies!

About Me

In my previous life I was a fussy, type-a tech gal..and now.. now here I am in the flyover zone on a farm. I gave up my Big Life and I became a tiller of the soil, a keeper of the flocks, and a hater of pigs.

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